A review of tonight's "Mad Men" coming up just as soon as I'm not working the slide rule...
"Just once, I would like to hear you use the word 'we.'" -Joan

For an episode about characters impulsively blowing up relationships, "For Immediate Release" was put together with the level of meticulousness we expect from "Mad Men" at its absolute best. It's an episode that takes a plot development — the merger of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and Cutler, Gleason & Chaough into a new super-agency — we've all suspected was coming (if not from the moment Peggy went from one to the other, then from the bar scene after the failed Heinz pitches where Ted laments life in the minor leagues) and made it feel both completely natural and an absolute delight.

This was a classic "Mad Men" episode, rich in intrigue, deeper meaning and... simpler entertainments. (I cannot tell a lie: this review would have been done at least 30 minutes sooner if I hadn't been watching this GIF of Pete falling down the stairs on a loop.) As fascinating as it can be to watch Don Draper battle his inner demons — and he did quite a bit of that here, actually — the series cooks the hottest when big things are happening at the office.

We open on Bert, Pete and Joan planning in secret — the first of many scenes in the episode where major decisions are made without all the affected parties being consulted first — to take the agency public. Their banker tells them, "It's a common mistake to not ask questions when you want something because you're afraid of the answers," and throughout the hour, we'll see characters make rash decisions (like CGC dumping Alfa Romeo in hope of landing the top-secret Chevy account) out of want rather than need. And after the banker leaves, Pete notes that the IPO will double the agency's size — having no idea that the agency is about to double under an entirely different circumstance.

For most of his appearances in seasons 4 and 5, Ted Chaough was painted as a poor man's Don Draper: a haircut trying and failing to imitate our man. We've seen this season that he's more complicated — and sympathetic — than that, as he would need to be for this merger idea to work as an ongoing proposition for the series. But we're reminded throughout "For Immediate Release" how much the two have in common, well before the same impulse puts them in the same bar at the right moment to have a career-changing epiphany.

Don is the bane of Pete's existence for how he takes unilateral action that hurts the agency — and in dumping Jaguar, Don expects to be treated like a hero, but even Joan is disgusted by it, because ultimately she was stronger and more mature than Don was about this ugly business — but we see that Ted has the ability to cause agita for his own partners, as well as Don's occasional weakness for trying to seduce his underlings. Ted makes his move on Peggy in the way that Don never did, and though it's initially awkward, pretty soon she's fantasizing about him while making out with Abe in the apartment she hates, and she makes a point to fix her makeup before going into his office. But like Roger returning from his Detroit trip(*) with a combination of good news and bad news (that winds up being only good news once he realizes they've already cut ties with Jaguar), Peggy doesn't get the exact reception she was expecting: yes, Ted landed Chevy, but in the process put her back into the employment — and very long shadow — of Don Draper.

(*) Pete's been carrying the business side of the agency for years, but Roger's been hustling for a while, and that hustle — with the help of a friendly stewardess — finally pays off. A Roger Sterling who has a stake in the game again is a very welcome thing.

Joan (in a tremendous scene for Christina Hendricks) tries to warn Don about the difference between "I" and "we," and yet he makes this enormous move without consulting anyone but Ted. Roger and Jim Cutler clearly know about it the next morning (and I hope this is only the first of many silver fox-offs between John Slattery and Harry Hamlin), and it will likely be for the good of both agencies in the long run(**), but Don made this move the way he makes most of them: on a whim, assuming it will be the right one because he thought of it.

(**) The merger had better be more valuable than the account that led to it, given that the XP-887 will (as my friend Phil pointed out to me) turn out to be the Vega, which was not only a lemon but a car that Chevy struggled to market. I can certainly imagine a final episode of the series taking place at the dawn of 1970, with a newly-permed Don Draper convincing himself that the new decade will be better than the old one, and that this car is going to be a huge hit for him and the agency.

While Don and Ted are each busy chasing away a car company's business, we see other characters creating professional separations for their own personal reasons. Dr. Rosen quits his job at the hospital out of frustration at not being able to perform the first heart transplant, and Pete and his father-in-law do an excellent job of proving wrong Ken's theory about the folly of mutually assured destruction. Tom hypocritically fires SCDP to punish his princess's loathsome husband for going to a whorehouse, assuming Pete would never be dumb enough to tell Trudy. But this is Peter Dyckman Campbell we're talking about, and if he has to torch any future chance of reconciling with his wife in order to get his revenge immediately, then by all that is unholy, he will. Pete still aspires to be like Don, which is what makes these repeated betrayals sting all the more — it's not just that Don ruined things with Jaguar, but that he went to dinner without Pete — and you can see the same selfish impulses steering both men. The difference in this case is that Don acting on his own ultimately proves to be good for both him and the company, where all Pete accomplishes is ruining any chance at reconciling with either Trudy or Vick. (Pete's like the scorpion from the oft-told fable with the frog; he doesn't want to hurt himself while hurting others, but it's in his nature.)

With the dispatching of Herb, Joan's scolding of Don and the securing of a new car account, the obvious comparison is to "The Other Woman," But where that episode — despite a lot of brilliant individual components — always felt like Matt Weiner came up with an end result and then hastily worked backwards to ensure that it happened, the conclusion of "For Immediate Release" feels like something the show built up to naturally. And when you add in the caper touches of "Shut the Door, Have a Seat," and the incredible possibilities of a workplace where all these people with their complicated histories (up to and including Burt Peterson) will be under one roof, you have not only the most satisfying episode of this season, but one that makes me more eager to see what comes next than any recent installment.

By the end of the episode, Don finally learns the value of "we" — even if it just involves himself and Ted combining to do the same thing that so frustrated people when they were doing it alone. But the definition of "we" at whatever the new agency is going to be called — and the potential combinations therein — just got much, much bigger. Cannot wait to see it come to life.

Some other thoughts:

* Opening the floor for agency name suggestions now. Even if you leave Lane Pryce and the ailing Frank Gleason out of it, a list of partner names would be too unwieldy, right?

* Pete falling down the stairs was some genius slapstick from Vincent Kartheiser, but Weiner and director Jennifer Getzinger cooked up several other priceless moments in that sequence, including the entire creative staff beating feet away from the conference room to pretend like they weren't just eavesdropping on all of it.

* The one bump in an otherwise superb episode: Megan. Since quitting the agency midway through last season, she's landed in a similar position to Betty in the early seasons: always a distant second, dramatically, to anything going on at the office. And at least Betty had offered interesting standalone plots and social commentary, in addition to providing access to Sally. Megan's just a remnant of a time in Don's life that Don has already moved beyond, and while that's the point of her stories this season — and in this episode in particular, where her mom pushes her to win his affections back (on a week when Sylvia is conveniently distracted by the presence of her son) — I inevitably watch a Megan scene and find myself wishing we were back at the office. At least tonight, we got to enjoy Julia Ormond being very bitter, French and drunk in most of the Megan scenes, but Marie unfortunately won't be around every week.

* This is Don's third pitch of the season (after the Royal Hawaiian and Heinz Ketchup) to omit visuals of the product entirely (at least in the initial wave of things). Is this Don getting stuck on a gimmick, or a reflection on where his head has been all season: present in name but not in substance?

* And which pitch did Ted and Don decide to give Chevy? I'd have loved to hear those negotiations — even if they ended up combining aspects of both pitches.

* Also, the lines between "Mad Men" actors pitching products and "Mad Men" characters pitching products has become so blurry that when I heard Don rehearsing his Chevy pitch for Ted, I began wondering when Jon Hamm had jumped ship from Mercedes.

* Peggy's sexual fantasies are specific enough that Ted would be reading Emerson, but not specific enough that she'd be able to think of an actual Emerson title. "Something" by Emerson is all that matters.

* Peggy's press release sets the date as May 17. The Houston heart transplant Arnold is so envious of took place earlier in the month, on May 3. He's been stewing.

* Harry Crane, conspicuously absent in an episode that would underline the reasons for his anger over not being made partner.

* Roger keeps copies of "Sterling's Gold" in his flight bag. Of course he does.

* I'll leave it to Tom and Lorenzo to do their usual brilliant fashion analysis, but I couldn't help noticing Joan wearing her hair down in a much more modern style in the opening scene. But that seems more a reflection of meeting someone on a Saturday night than her changing her personal look, since her hair's back up in the later office scenes.

* I expect the show to get more mileage out of James Wolk down the road, but for the moment I think I would love it if Bob Benson only appeared to respond to absurd requests from the partners with his usual brown-nosing enthusiasm.

* UPDATE: I have to add this to the review for posterity, simply because several of you caught this and I missed it: Herb's wife's name is Peaches. Don and Peggy are reunited, and it feels so good to Don, if not to Peggy.

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Don never wanted Joan to whore herself out for the company. He had more respect for her than she obviously had for herself, so she can't have it both ways and blame him for making a move that negates the bad decision he advised her against.

Wasn’t that an incredible episode last night? Best episode of Mad Men in a long time. Great humorous touches throughout. I watched the encore again and totally re-wound the scene of Pete falling down the stairs, watched it multiple times. Hilarious! The restaurant scene with Megan's mom was hilarious too.

I agree with Miles. Joan’s such a hypocrite. Don was the ONLY ONE who told her not to sell herself out for the Jaguar account, she goes and does it anyway (it was for the agency but she was looking out for herself and her interests too) and here she’s giving Don sh*t about only thinking of himself. She did the exact same thing! Didn't like Joan the last episode she was featured in and definitely don't like her now.

Disagree with AquaCandy - Joan said "I managed that guy just fine, why couldn't you ?". She slept with Herb, but when he came sniffing around for another "date", she subtley shut him down. She managed that client as well as possible.

maybe this is a long shot but couldn't it be that Joan is more angry with Don for blowing up the account because having that account was the only thing that justified having degraded herself? And then on top of that for it to be blown up by the very person who told her not to do it in the first place might sting a bit too.

@Miles I agree. She could've known he wouldn't do it. On the other hand, Don is far from consistent when it comes to getting his hands dirty for business (didn't he profess more than once to hate Chouagh?).

It's true that Joan did it before Don found out and asked her not to do it, but it's also true that she and the partners intentionally kept Don in the dark. It was understood that he never would have gone for it. So yes, from a business/partner perspective, it was selfish of him to kill Jaguar without consulting anyone, but on a personal level, Joan's misery is of her own creating.

That's the message. The alpha male's decision really was in her best interest, even if she doesn't know it. The beast is gone, but they couldn't have gotten there without him, and her. He is taking care of everyone but doesn't have time to share, or the ability.

You seem to forget that when Don went to see Joan to talk her out of spending the night with Herb (even though by then she already had), that he did so not only to prevent her from selling herself for the sake of the company, but also to get her to understand that he and the company were good enough to acquire a car account based on the quality of the work, not side deals and shenanigans. So, she deprived him of proving to her that they could acquire Jaguar legitimately. I think this is why Don had no reservations in ending the relationship with Herb - because he's never going to be able to have their work be why they have the account. And now, thanks to he and Roger, the get a second chance to prove to everyone that they can legitimately acquire a car account based on their work, not side deals and shenanigans.

@CHARLES_: I agree with your assessment of what the other partners do, but I think you don't give Joan enough credit. It has been shown plenty of times, and highlighted by other characters in the show that Joan practically runs the whole company. Pete is there for the clients, Don is there for the clients, Roger is there for the clients (at least for now), but Joan is there for the company. Even back when Lane was part of the company (and alive), he made it clear to Joan that she was just as good if not better at his job. And I don't remember anyone questioning his right to partnership. I don't agree with the way she made partner, but maybe she felt it was the only way she would get recognized since she was a woman, otherwise they would have given it to her long before she actually got it. But the way in which she got it shouldn't take away from the fact that, had she not done that, she still deserved to be partner. This was just her way of making it official. Without her there would only be clients and ideas, clients wouldn't get billed, no one would get paid, budgets wouldn't get balanced, banks wouldn't fund loans, etc. A company cannot run if its finances are not in order to allow it to run. If this isn't as important if not more important than Pete and Don's jobs (without her there would be no company to get clients for or create ideas for) then I don't know what is.

I don’t agree with the people who are coming down on Joan, analogizing what she did to win the Jaguar contract with what Don did in torpedoing Jaguar. People may think like Alan I am giving too much slack to Joan and they may think Joan is being something of a hypocrite in chewing out Don for thinking there is an “I” in “team” essentially. However, I don’t think what Joan did for the company and what Don did are the same at all. Joan had the approval of the other partners and she decided to help build the company; yes to enrich herself too but why the hell that’s supposed to be a flaw? They are in business. Did anyone criticize the other partners for having conditions when SCDP was first formed?

What Don did was completely unilateral with NO consultation, just own his own.

Joan did do what she did for financial gain and it was in exchange for being made partner, the other partners knew what she was going to do and went along with it. Yes Don was left out of the decision but it was a vote by the other Partners to do it even if Don didn’t like it. He walked out remember? So Don *did* know about it before hand. He would’ve been out voted anyway even if left sulking. It wasn’t behind his back and it helped the company financially which was in dire straits if one remembers. But the point is the partners knew about it voted on it with Joan’s consent.

Oh and least we forget SCDP was in financial trouble at the time which is one reason they stooped to this in the first place. It was sink or swim. If they didn’t get Jaguar, the company would’ve likely died then. Whatever one approves of what Joan did or not, arguably she saved the fledgling company, at the very least she is the reason they have a second floor for Peter to fall down the stairs with ala Dean Martin. :-)

Of course Joan has taken a personal toll over it including the subsurface murmerings including what Harry Crane intimated when he said he deserved to be partner more than Joan so it is not as if she got off Scott free. Even though while I wouldn’t want a woman to sleep her way to the top it is not the worse thing in the world what she did, not by far. It is not if she mugged someone or held up a liquor store or murdered someone.

I do admire Peggy’s fight to get her position of respect and that is the way Joan should’ve done it, but I don’t hold it against her because it was such a hurdle that Peggy had to get over. Joan may have felt that is the only way she could get security in her life, especially after her way of trying to make it in the traditional way, marrying a well off man failed and being well, on the old side (she must be about 39 years old by now) while Peggy was still in her very early 20’s when she started at Sterling/Cooper in ’60. Joan was in her early thirties already, already going down the traditional path of looking for a man and not a career. Joan may have felt it was too late for her to even try to struggle to get into traditionally male occupations in advertising. Remember her being resentful of Peggy (one of the admittedly few times I didn’t like Joan)?

She knew this was her last time to get security without a man to rely on so she prostituted herself (yes I appreciate the deep irony in that statement), but what she did helped the company along with herself.

In contrast Don without ANY consultation took it upon himself to sink the Jaguar account. There was no vote, no airing of views; just Don on his own because he didn’t like the guy.

Why? Because his condition was to have sex with Joan, but really while Joan prostituted herself to get a client, it is not as if the boys didn’t take potential clients to prostitutes all the time so it is not as if she was doing anything fundamentally different than what the boys were doing. The only real difference is, of course, that she was using her own body instead of having someone else rent their own. Is what Joan did any different than how they “wined and dined” any other potential client? Only in one way: They know Joan. Don knows Joan. We know Joan. So in fact if we are going to dislike the Jaguar client for having as a price for his business having sex with Joan, then to be consistent we have to dislike any other client the Boys have taken, are taking, or will take to whorehouses in the past, present and future.

Now if you want to make and analogy with what Joan did and what Don did in getting rid of Jaguar. It is this: Joan, Bert and Peter apparently made a deal to take the company public without Don and Roger’s knowledge as shown at the beginning of the episode but even then it is not quite the same. Joan, Pete and Bert was growing the business potentially doubling the size of the company with the capitalization, while Don-who allegedly doesn’t care about money-was throwing it way and seemingly on a whim, and from what Bert said they were going to take the proposal to the other partners including Don after they took it to the “Underwriters”, so those two situations aren’t totally analogous either. Joan and the others were just laying ground work to go public before announcing it; Don pulled the carpet from under every one on his own.

After kicking Jaguar to the curb during dinner, Don when he went into the office the next day said they had the Chevy account, but as we saw later that was by no means a certainty after all so Don did a far more inconsiderate thing than what Peter, Bert and Joan did at the beginning of the episode, or even what Joan and the others agreed that Joan had to do to win Jaguar without Don’s approval.

And now Don has merged with CGC without anyone’s approval save Roger, again on a whim, this time a whim with Ted but he at least had a two thirds of his partners to essentially vote, himself and Cutler and Frank had his mind on other matters. Don didn’t tell anyone except Roger, again deciding on everyone’s financial fate virtually unilaterally.

So no, Joan was not a hypocrite in chewing out Don. She sacrificed for the company and with full participation of the others and help put it on an even financial keel; while Don played Lone Wolf without anyone’s input before doing something that effects the entire company and in fact could put the company in financial dire straits by making one client fire them and another not picking them for the contract, not to mention the unforeseeable losing of Vick’s because of daddy in law’s hypocrisy (if Pete is a "low life" for seeing prostitutes what is he?).

This merge may bnot work out. I think naming the new Agengcy would be the least of their worries. I am going to guess that their approaches to ideas about advertising is going to clash, and there is no real idea who is actually in charge. There is always a loser in terms of influence when two companies merge with one of the legacy companies within the union coming out on top, usually the bigger one. I think they will fight over how to name the place let alone anything else. Ted having Peggy send out that press release was very premature.

All that said I much prefer Don’s pitch for the Vega-“The future is something you haven't even thought of yet"-than Ted’s “Hit the road Jack!” (presumably with Ray Charles singing).

Oh and one other thing, regarding as to why Joan had her hair down in the very first scene of the episode when they were discussing taking SCDP public: It was the weekend a Saturday in fact. This is because as Joan was leaving the office Joan said to Pete don’t forget tomorrow is Mother’s Day”. Mother’s Day that year was Sunday, May 12, 1968. So her hair was down and Bert and Peter were dressed casually (so the episode takes place between then and Friday, May 17th) because it was weekend. And of course the very next scene we see her it was Monday and a new work week grind.

I was fooled a bit by it myself. I thought it was a land mark fashion change and she decided to update her look a bit. She does look great with her hair down.

I forgot to mention regarding the time of the show, or more specifially the calender. by coincidence May 1968 is identical to May 2013 in terms of what day the dates fall under. In other worlds May 1, 2013 fell on a Wendesday just like May 1, 1968; so Peggy typing up the press relese on May 17 happened on a Friday, just like it will be later this month.

While Joan was right in what she said to Don, in the grand scheme of things, the Jaguar guy was a pos. Joan had to sleep with him once, Don has to deal with him for the rest of their relationship, and now the guy wants him to run his work through some guy at his car lot? What is the point of even working for someone like that? You have to run your work through some guy and its not even his reputation on the line, Don might not have gone about it the right way, but the relationship with Jaguar was never going to last.

@ Miles: I think that Daisy was serving a dual purpose for Roger...spotting executives that Roger could "coincidentally bump into" to pitch, and also being a lover. My theory is that Roger was paying her to be his "scout" but that the sex was free, as much of it was back in '68.

Give me the Silver Fox over Draper any day of the week... I love me some Roger Sterling, especially when he's on his game. It will be a travesty if John Slattery never wins an Emmy for this role... He's utter perfection.

I'm a bit confused as to how the merger was approved by SCDP. Is it that Don and Roger alone had the power to make it happen, that there was an implied off-camera phone conference with the other partners, or that it was just a foregone conclusion that they would accept (given the Chevy account and the lack of alternatives)?

There's a reason we should be confused - we weren't given enough information. My guess is that we'll be dealing with the fallout of this next week.

This merger may never end up happening. This is all just a guess. Bear in mind that no good thing proceeds smoothly on Mad Men (except for "Close a Door, Have a Seat", which was so great that it could only exist in some fantasy business world).

Since Don told Peggy to "make it sound like an agency you want to work for", I hope she is typing that the new company should be named "OLSEN, CHAOUGH, and DRAPER" - who wouldn't want to work for an agency known as "OCD"?!

Don't both agencies need a majority of partners to merge? I don't know how many partners Teddy's agency has -- only 3?? -- but there are more than 3 in Don's: Don, Roger, Joan, Bert, and Pete, right? I could believe that Don and Ted could decide on their own to make a joint presentation, if they really knew they were already out of the running, but I don't see how they could just shake hands and merge agencies.OTOH, I was confused about how Pete, Bert, and Joan could decide to go public without the other partners -- but if there are 5 partners that at least would be a majority. And also, they didn't put it out to the public (like a press release), just laid the groundwork to get it done. I think.

I believe the partners get to vote in proportion to their stake in the company. When Don was a partner in Sterling Cooper voted to merge with PPL without him because his 15% share couldn't decide the matter. It's possible that Don and Roger had the necessary votes between them to approve of the merger, but my guess is that they did indeed consult the other partners and get their consent, and it's just not shown onscreen so we could share Peggy's surprise.

Robert's take here ls likely correct - I've drafted some partnership agrements and partners generally get to vote the proportion of their ownership interests. This can be altered in the partnership documents, but it's the baseline. Not that we'll actually find out down the road, but I'm wagering they called Cooper to get the votes they needed. I would be astonished of Don, Roger, and Burt own less than 50% of the partnership (I'd guess they own closer to 3/4 of it). Even taking into account that Lane's late wife likely has a piece of the business, I still highly doubt that Lane + Pete + Joan is even close to 50%.

I kept reading the blog and the partnership question is answered in another post:

"donovan7 Yes, Don and Roger's shares constitute a majority. When SCDP was formed, Don, Roger and Bert were senior partners at 25% each. Pete and Lane were junior partners at 12.5% each. After Lane's death his shares were distributed to the remaining partners and Joan was given 5%. As a result Don and Roger would have roughly 27% apiece (54% majority), Bert 27%, Pete 14% and Joan 5%. The IPO would have required the consent of one additional partner, but not the merger."

The $50,000 check Don gave Rebecca Pryce reimbursed Lane's partnership fee and severed her claims with SCDP. Sh*tty deal, and I was surprised - given Lane's financial savvy (at least about traditional matters, though not about negotiating his partnership terms) - that he didn't negotiate a severance clause (which might have given him the necessary financial cushion to avert his decision to commit suicide) or a better death benefit.

Interesting that Peggy says "I hate change, I want everything to stay the same" and then finds not only a change at work, but more of the same....sort of back to the future with Don. Hands down the best episode of the season so far. LOVED Joan's speech to Don.

Although I can in a way understand Joan's frustration, in the long term, the fact that she will not have to have any additional interaction with the apple-in-the-mouth-pig that Herb is. There has to be a modicum of gratefulness to Don because of that alone.

Peggy likes the IDEA of living in a sketchy part of the city with her liberal boyfriend, but the reality of it sucks pretty hard. Peggy belongs out in the "burbs with a "haircut" like Teddy. I want to slug her boyfriend. Lose that guy Peggy.

Joan's frustration is borne out of the fact that with Herb's Jaguar account now gone, her standing in the company has less influence. She can no longer use the "do you know what I had to do to get us this account" angle to maintain her relevance with the other partners. Jaguar is the only business she brought in, and now it's gone. Ergo, so is her grip on the partnership.

Getting Jaguar got SDCP a lot of exposure and prestige, and bolstered the firm's morale. That was always the account's primary value... I think Lane even says that from a financial point of view, the Jaguar account would be a bit of a loser, and some of the partners express ambivalence prior to the signing... though ultimately everyone agrees they're worth pursuing because "it's a car."

Repeatedly throughout the course of the series we've heard the characters debate the value of certain accounts as stepping stones to larger accounts (e.g. Mohawk vs. American Airlines). Usually it doesn't pan out, but this time it looks like it did. If SDCP doesn't sign Jaguar (and if CGC doesn't get Alfa Romeo) who knows if they get a shot with Chevy?

Also, it's not like Joan was is an account man whose ongoing personal relationship with the client was vital to keeping their business. Her arrangement with SDCP and Herb was strictly a one-time transaction. And it's not like Joan could pridefully tout her role in signing Jaguar to boost her esteem around the office, because of what dirty business it was (see Harry's tirade). She's probably better off without Jaguar/Herb around to remind everyone how she got her partner status.

If Joan's position is weakened, I'd say it's probably a consequence of the merger. She was a 5% partner in SDCP, so how is that going to translate in the SDCP/CGC firm? Pete (the other junior partner) may be in a similar boat, especially if he has to surrender a lot of his accounts due to conflicts.

I didn't realize that you were aware of Tom & Lorenzo's MadStyle posts. Awesome! Their insight into the use of color to tie together characters and their surroundings (or contrast them) is a great read.

Someone on one of these threads linked to Tom and Lorenzo's blog a couple weeks ago. Now I'm hooked. They also have a good Monday morning recap of the previous night's show, in addition to their MadStyle posts. They offer excellent "Mad Men" insights similar to Alan.

I love T&L, too. Haven't had a chance to read this week's recaps yet, though. ALAN, you still come first.

Goodcatch on the use of red, WEEBAY. Red's also been used to signal prostitution, and I have no doubt Peaches is more aware of what a pig Herb is and what a mean girl Marie is than she let on. Notice the youthful, carefree cut of Peaches' dress; it's neither straightforwardly sexy like Megan's, nor slinky. Peaches has adopted a dumb blonde, clueless air, but is - no doubt - crafty and strategic about maintaining her lifestyle and a seeming obliviousness to anything that would overturn that if she confronted it, a la Carmela Soprano.

Agreed NKK. If they can prove which tennant - if it is a tennant and not an outsider - and if they own the building, they would probably have a case. Peggy could also notify the landlord who may or may not care to deal with the problem. But it is a health violation and someone would be responsile for dealing with it..

I loved the episode, but was conflicted about the Joan/Don exchange. On the one hand, she's right. Don made this decision without her or any of the other partners and by doing so not only negated what Joan had to go through, but also made her feel like a little girl who needed Don to take care of her.

However Herb was a despicable scumbag and while Don's actions were arrogant and self serving, I do think they came from a somewhat noble place

Also, even thought she's angry now, I think Joan will ultimately be grateful that she doesn't have to be confronted by this unpleasant part of her past on a daily basis.

With Jaguar, they can go public, she's a millionaire and they can make the firm big enough to win big accounts. Without Jaguar, she's a partner in a firm that's too small to win the big accounts and might not survive.

@Drew and @Tank - Remember that the show began by Pete (and the banker/analyst) getting her hopes up about the massive payoff for her, as a partner, that would come to her through the public offering. At the time that she explodes at Don, moreover, it appears that not only has he screwed that up for her, but there's no guarantee that his torpedoing the Jaguar account has not torpedoed the fortunes of the company in which she had so great a stake. She may even have felt that no matter how dark and dirty the part she played had been, it was HER part that she had played. Consider, last of all, that wonderful moment - too easily overlooked - when her facility with the books was paid such a fabulous compliment. This is a compliment paid on her WORK, her actual WORK, and that work is about to pay off just as much as anything the creatives put into the company, since it impressed the analyst. Here after all the snide remarks and sideways glances and even public accusations, is the first person we've seen appreciate her work since poor Lane, and now it's going down the tubes (so nearly as she can tell).

Weiner playing fast and loose with the IPO theme. Insider shares are usually locked in for a period of time to keep them from immediately selling. Being a public company as a mid size ad agency is no guarantee of success and the problems with having thousands of shareholders and being beholden to analysts and quarterly reports would make them wish Lane were still around.

Right, at the moment she said those things to Don, there was no Chevy, but there had been a stable, solid firm which was about to go public. Now, Don didn't know all that (and he probably should have) but his decision seemed to put all of that in jeopardy. And, I think ultimately Don was acting in defense of Joan - he was always against her liaison with Herb and told her not to go through with it. If Joan had known his attitude toward that from the beginning I don't believe she would have slept with Herb, as Don's friendship and understanding and respect means a great deal to her. In any case, she did was she did and Don's been angry about it ever since - not angry at her, but with Herb and everyone else for creating that situation. He cut Herb off for many reasons, but defending Joan was a big part of it. By now though, Joan felt that the incident was behind all of them and her hard work had helped the agency rise to a new level - and she felt Don had put all of it at risk.

This is why it's never simple with this show to react in the moment of a character's behavior. Joan has every right to feel as she does towards Don, Don had every right to send the Jag guy out on his butt and Pete had every right to make the Tarzan reference.

So many brilliant layers to all of these characters, and so much time between episodes to think about how you feel about each one.

Oliver, I agree with you about Joan and Don, but Pete yells at everyone because he's so screwed up. They lose cough drops because he gets caught at a whorehouse. He destroys his marriage because he arrogantly thinks he can sleep around ( trying to be Don, IMHO ). That doesn't give him the right to explode at Don. Where would the firm be without Draper ? Sure he's a loose cannon, but he's 90% of their creative genius.

Herb was maneuvering the agency into an awkward and painful position because Don enraged him at the big presentation a few episodes prior. Granted, Herb is an idiot and a really awful client, but all of this stems from Don's unilateral decisions.

Oliver, I agree. It's not black and white about who is right and who is wrong. They all have their valid points. We're dealing with years and layers of personal and professional relationships. Both Joan and Don this episode had meetings without the other knowing.

I agree w Lost Luggage. Don probably thought he was to some extent defending Joan's honor by dumping Jaguar -- the interaction at dinner just the final straw. But he's baffled by her reaction -- still too selfish to understand that as a single mother, supporting a child, the stability of the company is critical to her.

Bob Benson making an appearance at the whore house with Pete. Did he grow up in one as the secret son of Dick Whitman? Sadly, no evidence for my theory these last few weeks other than getting an episode about Don as a father to his son last week.

I'm sure they're going somewhere with him; James Wolk is too high profile for him to remain a tertiary character, similarly to how you knew something was up when Jessica Pare showed up for a long time as "just" the receptionist.

Maybe he's living double lives, with Tyra Collette's grandmother as his secret wife down in Texas.

Megan's there in this episode to illustrate the patient, good wife who won't make any impulsive decisions and who will do what her man says when he asks it--chores like that dinner (the client's wife perfectly fine story didn't really deserve that French derision! Shame on you, Megan's Mom for calling that sweet woman an idiot!) But Megan even if she desires not to get involved in Don's work still does so anyway because she's thinking of him. And in her own work, if she desires not to be asked for autographs and be bothered, she still signs them. She is a selfless character; all "we" and no "I". very much unlike her husband.

Vince Karheiser has a gift for slapstick physical comedy that the producers have tried to mine wherever it's appropriate--which isn't often on a show like this. See the Pete/Trudy dance from season 3, smacking into the support beam in his office & getting punched out by Lane in season 5, etc.

Vincent Karthieser is a brilliant actor. He does not get enough credit or recognition for his efforts, probably because his character is such an ass! And he shaved back his receding hairline for the part! Talk about dedication.

Remember his little dance for joy in his office during Season 3 when he thought he was head of accounts....only to find out he would have to share the job with Ken. And of course the Charleston dance with Trudy was brilliant.

Everyone who likes Vincent Kartheiser as Pete, should check out his after show appearance on an episode last week of Watch What Happens Live. He was hysterically funny, and much of his commentary was regarding Mad.

Pete tripping was great- I guess he's a good actor because I've hated his character since day 1! He's so cocky and thinks he's entitled and better than Don, his tripping was symbolic in so many ways.

Also- there's never any mention of Peres liaison with Peggy and their "bastard" (sorry- too much games of thrones ...) which Pegs mother is raising. I wonder if that will come out? Pete looked even more pathetic squealing to Trudy about her Dad at the brothel.

You must be new here, because I feel like every week we talk about how Peggy gave her kid up. There are no ties between her, her family, and that baby. I wouldn't be surprised if it never comes up again, unless it's Peggy telling Abe about it as I'm not 100% sure they've had that conversation.

Loved this episode. It may be convenience but I was happy that Don had his mojo back with Megan. Really felt for Joan and I guess we can assume that everything is out there and the office more or less knows what happened with Herb. The scene with Don and Ted was fantastic, every line a gem.

"For an episode about characters impulsively blowing up relationships, "For Immediate Release" was put together with the level of meticulousness we expect from "Mad Men" at its absolute best."

Alan hit the nail right on the head with this wonderfully written sentence. I've been hard on and very disappointed with this season thus far but finally tonight we received what we've all been waiting for and like Alan I can't wait to see what happens next for the first time in a long time. It's almost as if Weiner realized the first five episodes were going nowhere and the show needed to be reset in order to go forward.

The Don & Ted's bar scene was reminiscent of and the show's best since Don & Joan's bar scene. I've really enjoyed how they've developed Ted's character as not just a comic foil competitor to Don but a legitimate respected equal.

Thought Trudy was fantastic tonight and looked great to boot. Pete really is a moron who can't get out of his own way but he's also a person who should never be underestimated as he has the will to do whatever it takes to push himself professional. One thing I thought was interesting in that regard was that for all of his progressive, social conscious all of that went out the window when he felt threatened as he couldn't wait to expose his father in law for sleeping with a '200 pound negro prostitute.'

Lastly, the Joan scene was excellent not just for what she said but for putting a crack in a relationship that has always been the show's healthiest as it's been based on a mutual respect which might possibly now be gone. The respect Joan has/had for Don has always been important to him which is likely why he's never come anywhere close to making a move on her. Should be interesting to see how he attempts to win her respect back or does he forget about that and finally give in to his carnal impulses with a Joan seduction?

My one question about tonight was about the Joan scene, does everybody in the office know that she prostituted herself? Because Ken certainly didn't seem surprised when she brought it up.

"It's almost as if Weiner realized the first five episodes were going nowhere and the show needed to be reset in order to go forward."

The first 5 episodes made this one possible. Weiner and crew treat each season as a novel, and each episode as a chapter in that novel.

I'm not quite as enamored of this one as most appear to be. It was pretty much all action, with a lot of coincidences lining up almost too neatly. To me, this is not a culmination episode, but setting the plate for the next 7 hours. You KNOW that this merger is not going to be smooth sailing. And just about every time this agency (and Don in particular) does something on impulse that looks like the great "Hail Mary" pass, the unintended consequences come back to bite them.

@Another Guest - Absolutely - this is going to cause all kinds of problems. They didn't stick that previously-on quote of Ted saying to Peggy, "He's not your friend" for no reason. And all of this sh*t is about to hit the fan right when Bobby Kennedy gets assassinated.

Another Guest, care to elaborate as to why you think those five episodes of bland nothingness was necessary? From where I'm standing, I'm sorry, I think that's a bunch of 'elitist trying to suggest people who didn't like the first 5 episodes because they didn't get it' hogwash. There's not much to get and whatever there was could have easily been condensed into 3, perhaps even 2 episodes.

You also seem to be contradicting yourself. On one hand you say the first five episodes made this one possible on the other you said it's not a culmination episode.

Personally I'm not into labeling it as anything except a good episode of Mad Men which has been long overdue so far this season.

One thing I do agree with is that this does set up the rest of season 6 nicely and ripe with conflict.

@Head - It's not about "getting" anything. You got what you got from them, thought it was bland nothingness, and didn't enjoy it. I got what I got, didn't think it was bland or nothingness, and have enjoyed all of the episodes. But I'm sure there are many things you enjoy which I would consider bland/nothing - it's simply interpretation and opinion, and applies to every creative endeavor that exists.

Well, there were a few things that had to happen in order to get to the point that Don would consider a merger with someone he previously considered his nemesis:

1) There had to be some trouble with Herb so that Herb would want to 'get even' with Don - which would lead to Don quitting Jaguar.2) There had to be the competing pitch (Heinz) which both smaller agencies lost (and also cost SCDP another big client)- so that the idea of them being at a disadvantage to the larger firms could be floated.

It's possible that they could have managed these things in less time, but it's likely it would have felt rushed.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I found the first 5 episodes of this season anything but bland. In particular, "The Collaborators" (3rd hour of the season) was extremely compelling on its own AND paved the way for a lot of things that happened in FIR, including:
* Pete's too-close-to-home indiscretions cause Trudy to throw him out. He seems to be playing it safer in this episode by going to a brothel, but instead runs into his father-in-law, which results in setbacks both professional and personal.
* Don's smackdown of Herb Rennet and his allusions to Munich are resolved in this episode with Don's decision to draw the line once and for all. * Also, in Ep. 3, Joan goes into Don's office to compose herself after Herb arrives. I think this reinforces Don's notion that Joan wants to be as free of Herb as he does.

I could go on, but I have a life. :-) I can appreciate that this past episode felt satisfying to many viewers -- it provided a more "immediate release" for us as well as the characters. I expect some serious fallout, which likely will be handled more like the first few episodes, at least in tone.

That was an exaggeration of Peter’s part. As was his “biggest blackest” comment. While I still believe he isn’t a racist in terms of hating (Nor is Roger or Don despite their racist Jokes. Roger’s “Darkest before the Dawn” crack stands out) and genuinely desires civil rights for blacks I still also think some of the social expectations he grew up with is difficult to shake.

@headinbetweenjoansbreasts:

Yes I want my head between Joan’s breasts. I think they have gotten bigger over time, which does match reality when a woman gets older. :-)

Oh and the first five episodes were tablesetters, although I do agree the first four were slow. Last weeks' MLK assination episode was to me as powerful as the JFK assasination episode was a few seasons ago.

Sadly, we will get another one perhaps as soon as next episode. I doubt it though since that would be distracting from the post "merger" firestorm which I think will happen.

Episode eight is when I think Peggy will get her heart broken on a particular early June day.

I am also hoping that the producers will do a good Democratic Convention episode with the Police Riot in the background and at the end of the season Apollo Eight will serve as a background giving, like Apollo Eight in real life, a hopeful ending to 1968.

This is one of those things that I really appreciate about Mad Men how they pay attention to minute details like this (although I am not by far an obsessive snarker who snarks for snarking sake).

As late as 1986 paint fumes were *very* powerful and it would’ve taken more than a bandana to dull them. My eyes teared up when my apartment was painted in 1986. I couldn’t stay in the apartment for a day or so, so I left all the windows open to hurry the drying. Maybe it was the brand of paint being used but it was over bearing.

By 1993 when I had the place painted again I noticed that the fumes were nowhere near as powerful, about as powerful as a few drops of model airplane cement at worse by then in terms of smell, and I could actually ignore it.

"Also, the lines between "Mad Men" actors pitching products and "Mad Men" characters pitching products has become so blurry that when I heard Don rehearsing his Chevy pitch for Ted, I began wondering when Jon Hamm had jumped ship from Mercedes."

I found that incredibly distracting! His delivery was EXACTLY the same as his Mercedes narration. Defiitely pulled me out of the moment.

Things just seem to move too fast in the episode to me. I think we at least needed to see Don convincing Roger of this strategy and possibly some of the pitch to Chevy as well. Also, Don didn't seem natural at all, especially from the moment after he has it out with Herb. Maybe its just that this was "desperate Don" and we don't see that much. He reminded me of the episode where he gave the pitch to the client drunk. I think it was Life cereal.

Not quite as desperate as the Life cereal pitch, when Don was BEYOND drunk, but I agree the fast pace was kind of a cheat for this series. I almost felt I was watching "The Good Wife," a show that panders to its audience's need for "action."

I often found that a frustrating element employed by David Chase with "The Sopranos". There would be 2-3 episodes where a lot of mundane events would happen, then BOOM! an episode with so much happening in it that you asked yourself, "where was all of this action before?!" Great episode, but almost every scene was "a big scene", where in the first five episodes combined, there were only a handful of scenes that merit remembrance. [Boy, we audiences sure are hard to please, aren't we? :-)]

Maybe it's because that's the way life is - not much happening for awhile - and then a whole lot all at once. Television shows with big events every episode feel stagey and unrealistic.But in any case,not to worry: I'm sure everyone can go back to complaining nothing is happening in an episode or two.

The scene where Peggy walks into Teddy's office and finds Don was enough to make the episode all on its own. It was quite possibly one of the best moments that the show has had in years.

Some other thoughts I had:

-I think it was telling that only Bert, Pete, and Joan were at the meeting with the banker, yet it's Don and Roger who decide to team with CGC. Matt Weiner doesn't do anything by accident.-Good on Joan for calling out Don. No one else ever does.-What is the car that they're going to advertise? In the GM offices, they showed a 1968 Corvette, but I don't think that was it. It sounds pretty advanced for then, with the idea of an onboard computer being a really brand new thing.

Incidentally, not one of us has yet mentioned:(a) That little discussion between Abe and Peggy of how their world is about to improve politically -- the Vietnam War is about to end, Johnson's out and RFK is likely in ...(b) For all Don's commiserating with Dr. Rosen, at the time that Megan offered her personal cheering section to Don's slide rule, he CLEARLY had been about to make his usual move on Sylvia after having seen that the coast was clear.

I think the fact that no one's mentioned the Abe/Peggy politics discussion is connected to why everyone likes this episode so much: it had almost nothing to do with the larger social/political situation, and invited us back into the satisfying fantasy that it's all about the power struggles and creative sparks of individual personalities.

(b) Isn't that always the way? There you are in the midst of another "can't fail" lie to your wife about taking "a shower and going back in" (to Sylvia's apartment, not the office!), and your wife disrupts your best laid plans with an unexpected oral compliment, then unexpected oral. If Don isn't careful, he's going to ruin his perfectly good relationship with his mistress.

As I recall, (age 12 at the time) the first words I heard that day June 4 on my bedside radio were "bobby Kennedy is undergoing surgery to remove a bullet from his brain)...because the assasination (attempt, at the time) happened late in West Coast time, and everybody was already asleep and woke to the news. Likely they'll do after effect,(Kennedy died 22 hours later) and move quickly to total some some '68 happenings, which were plenty...

I think a couple of you are confused about a series of events. No way was Don going to see Silvia - Rosen got on the elevator at the lobby (right after Don) and got off at his own apartment. Coupled with the fact that his son is back and staying with him and Silvia, I don't think Don has 'seen' Silvia for awhile.

WTF, are you kidding me? A wife and a husband sharing intimacy in the privacy of their own home is equivalent in your eyes to a married person going down on a stranger in a public place with her husband just down the hall?

Indeed, Andrew Y. It's not the sex that's wrong, but the illicit nature of the act. The point with Sally was that Roger was treating her like a grownup and lavishing his attention on her, but then "abandons" her for adulterous nookie. Don and Megan being together is something that a now post-pubescent Sally should understand takes place, and it is not a personal betrayal of anyone, or even her, considering that it was Megan's rapport with Sally that brought her to Don's notice. The "my friend first" bit was immature and unfair to Megan, who really was trying to do right by her. If Sally were to react badly to such a situation, she is probably being her mother's daughter.

The fact that everyone sees Bob as a total suck-up brown-noser leads me to think that the only way Bob is going to "put them in their place" is if Bob's well-heeled father-in-law hands him a juicy account, and it would also be wonderfully ironic.

With the doctor out of work and at home now, I wonder how Don will act without his usual Sylvia fix.

I feel for Peggy...she will never have that perfect moment...there will always be something just off..like those two dogs humping outside her hotel room in Virginia. and tonight - i keep watching that end scene - she is powdering her nose, happy, relax, excited...then that familiar voice from off-camera as she enters the room...brilliantly shot!

i am worried about her - now she is working for two men who may drain her dry emotionally and creatively.

I'm wondering if Dr. Rosen's career will take him to another city, and what that will do to Don and Sylvia.

After Peggy's daydream about Ted, walking into his office and hearing Don's voice felt like a nightmare. I wonder if it is a bit of a nightmare to her. Back to SCDP, to the people who knew her as a secretary, Don's assistant. She probably feels like she's going backwards.

Dr. Rosen can most certainly continue a medical career in New York City, he isn't going anywhere. There is the rest of this season and one more to come, so I don't think we need concern ourselves over a soap opera thing with the Rosens moving away. That would be too easy.

I went back and watched the "heart attack" scenes from the first episode this season. The opening 10 seconds of the episode we only see the doctor and hear Megan's voice (Oh my God!). Then, later of course, we see another scene where we see the doorman having his attack in the hallway and being tended to by Dr. Rosen. But we don't hear Megan say "Oh my God!". Anyone else think that the opening 10-second scene is actually Don's heart attack that co-incidentally also happens in the lobby of their building and with Dr. Rosen trying to save him? The doctor has lost his job, and perhaps his wife too. I think the season will end the same way it actually started.

woohoo! A TLo shout out!I encourage you all to devour their fun and insightful analysis.

I believe that tonight marks the second time Joan has worn her hair down in the office. The first time when she was urgently called by Cooper in the middle of her date to discreetly handle Roger's first heart attack. And now- once again with Cooper, discreetly handing the public offering negotiations. And I am sure TLo has a lot to say about it!